Vodafone Idea aims to become a ‘techco’ via partner-led strategy: Report

Debt-laden Vodafone Idea (VIL) is aiming to become a technology company by focusing on partnership and thereby building ‘an ecosystem of products and services for enterprises in the country’, The Economic Times reported quoting sources.

The report added that providing cloud services is also a key focus and strategic area for VIL and that it is co-creating differentiated offerings with partners with Google, Microsoft, AWS, and CtrlS.

Market analysts have pointed out the Telecom operator is losing competitive position due to continuous reduction in subscribers, low investment in the network, and rising debt.

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“From being a telco, we are trying to become a ‘techco’ in keeping pace with the changing needs of enterprises… This is the space where the partnership will come in handy,” Abhijit Kishore, director-enterprise business at Vodafone Idea, told the publication.

The merger of two telecom companies Vodafone India Ltd and Idea Cellular of Aditya Birla Group happened in 2018, after the advent of Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio took the telecom industry by a shock.

The company has since been facing an existential threat, as losses continue to mount.

Kishore told the publication that VIL is creating a “partner marketplace for devices, applications, software, consultancy, system integrator, and network to build the ecosystem.”

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“Internet of Things (IoT), Cloud, SDN-WAN are some of the opportunities for the telco in the large enterprise domain. In the small and medium enterprise domain, digital adoption is presenting opportunities to the telco,” the executive said.

The firm on October 30 reported a consolidated loss of Rs 7,218.2 crore for the quarter ended September 2020. Its subscriber base declined by around 4 crore on a year-on-year basis to 27.98 crore while the debt stood at Rs 1,15,940 crore.

"Unless Vodafone is able to change its direction... find its niche either in enterprise business or customers, it will continue to lose customers," Ashutosh Sharma, an analyst at Forrester had told PTI.

(With agency inputs)